


Where Happiness Is

by angstytimelord



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, Will actually enjoying himself for once, happiness, playing fetch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 14:05:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4140552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstytimelord/pseuds/angstytimelord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will needs Wolf Trap and all that he has here far too much to ever leave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Happiness Is

Winston trotted up the steps to the front porch, a stick in his mouth.

"Not now, boy," Will said with a soft laugh, leaning forward in the rocking chair to ruffle the dog's fur. "It's too hot to play. You should be resting in the shade."

Winston barked, then dropped the stick at Will's feet, looking up at him with soulful eyes and tilting his head to the side, as though he was asking a question.

"You really want to play, don't you?" Will said with a soft laugh. "Okay, boy. I'll play with you, as long as I don't have to get up and run around in the sunshine. You can do all of that." He took the stick from Winston, then heaved it as far out into the yard as he could throw.

The dog immediately barked and ran down the steps after the stick, bringing it back within moments and dropping it at Will's feet, his tongue lolling out.

Will couldn't help laughing; he always enjoyed playing with the dogs, but Winston, for some reason, seemed to take more delight in it than the others usually did.

Winston barked once, then again, his ears pricking up hopefully.

"Okay, boy, okay," Will said, laughing and getting up out of the chair. He threw the stick again, this time further out into the yard, then walked down the front steps.

He loved this house, this country, he thought, looking around him. It was the perfect place for him to live. It suited his monastic spirit, his need for privacy.

Some people might think that it was far too isolated, but for him, it was perfect. It was the home that he'd always wanted, a dream that he had built for himself. The house had been built to his specifications; it wasn't something that had been here that he had stumbled across while house-hunting.

No, he had decided to make his own place, build his own house, just to be sure that it was exactly what he wanted. And he had never regretted it for a moment.

This place had something of himself in it. The dogs only added to that special something; they made the house less of a building and more of a home.

Ahd wasn't chasing his dogs around and throwing sticks for them to fetch part of making a home? Will had to grin at where his thoughts had led him; if Winston could talk, he would probably say that was exactly what he had intended for Will to think about.

The dog dropped the stick at his feet, then sat up and barked once, twice, three times. It was as though he was saying, "Chase me!" with that happy sound to his bark.

Will threw the stick again, and this time, when Winston ran to it, he headed into the woods on the path towards the lake rather than dropping it at Will's feet again.

Will laughed and followed him, chasing the dog down the path.

When they arrived at the lake, Winston dropped the stick again, looking up at Will as though telling him to throw it again. Laughing, Will complied, hurling it into the water.

With a joyful bark, Winston bounded into the lake after his stick as Will sat down on the bank with a smile, watching the dog and feeling a wonderful sense of peace.

Yes, some other people might find this place too isolated, but he didn't. It soothed something in his soul, and gave him a feeling of being one with the world around him, a feeling that he never got when he had to deal with people. He knew that he couldn't feel like this if he lived in a city.

No matter how many people told him that he should move to be closer to his job, he knew that he would never abandon Wolf Trap. Too much of his heart and soul was here.

This was his home, the one place he truly felt at home, and always would be. He couldn't imagine living anywhere else but here. This was where he felt .... _free_.

Winston waded out of the water, flopping down beside him.

"Thanks, boy," Will said softly, petting the dog's head. "You showed me that I need to have fun sometimes. I haven't been doing things like this often enough lately."

Closing his eyes, he lay back on the grassy riverbank, his hands behind his head, letting the worries and tensions seep out of him. He couldn't do something like this in a city, he told himself. Not unless he went to a park, and even then, he wouldn't have this kind of peace and quiet. There would be people around.

He needed this place in his life. He needed the quiet, the solitude, the isolation. He needed the peace, needed to let it sink into his soul and take his cares away.

He needed Wolf Trap, and he was lucky to have it.

What would he do without this place? Will asked himself, then pushed the thought away from him. He would never have to be without Wolf Trap. He'd always live here, and be happy here.

With that thought firmly in his mind, he sighed deeply, breathing in the fresh, clean air, and let his mind wander to happier thoughts, wanting only to enjoy the day and the happiness it brought.


End file.
